You need to take this back and make it VERY clear to these morons that you are not leaving without a new one. The trip mechanism does two things. It makes it possible to turn the unit off without the slow smoky process you are now experiencing. More importantly, it is part of a safety tilt mechanism that will shut the unit off if it is knocked over. This can be the difference between a heater that harmlessly falls over, and one that burns your house down. As a kid, in the late 70s. I worked for a hardware store that sold a ton of heaters when they first were popular in this country. After a string of fires, the Feds put a new set of safety regs in place including automatic shut-off, and made it illegal to sell a unit that doesn't have a tilt safety device. The bottom line is....when you hit the shut-off, you need to hear a crisp snap, and the flame should be instantly extinguished because the wick has been violently retacted down the sleeve, depriving it of oxygen. If it does not do that, it is defective and unusable. Don't leave the store unit they have repaired yours, or given you a new unit that works safely. BTW, these clowns owe you the money they stole from you when they failed to repair it in the first place.

 

I would take it back because from what you are saying I don't think they worked on your heater. The reason a kero heater won't shut off when you trip it is, that the weighted trip mechinism is faulty (unlikely) or the wick is carboned up (most likely). If they repaired it they should have cleaned the center cylinder of any carbon and either replaced the wick or trimed the wick. It should then be cycled through all the setting to make sure everything works before lighting it. I used to leave my heaters run even when refilling them, but have found that it is not a good idea. One reason is safety, but another reason is the carbon build up reduces the life of the wick. By shutting the heater off each time, it allows the carbon to be knocked off the wick and will make it last longer. Hope that helps..